Free 3 Bureau Credit Report

Under the Fact Act (enacted 2003) everyone is entitled to receive a free copy of their credit report from each of the three CRAs (Consumer Reporting Agencies, Also called Credit Bureaus) every 12 months.

The 3 major credit bureaus – Experian, TransUnion & Equifax have put up a central service that handles all of the free 3 bureau credit report requests, called the Annual Credit Report Request Service.

This service is the ONLY service that process all requests for free credit reports under the Fact Act. Although each of the credit bureaus maintains a site of its own that supplies consumers with credit reports, the bureau’s private sites aren’t part of the FACT Act. If you use them to request your credit reports you will be asked to provide your credit card details, and you will be charged.

The only place that doesn’t require any form of payment is the government mandated Annual Credit Report Request Service mentioned above. The service provides consumers with 3 options for requesting your free credit reports: Online, over the phone (toll free) or by mail.

If you opt to get your free 3 bureau credit report online – you get immediate access to your reports, and you can also download’ save and print your reports.

You can order your free report from just one, two or all three of the CRAs. The later is a combined report from the 3 bureaus, also called 3 in 1 Credit Report. This report is very popular, because it makes the task of checking the reports much easier and less time consuming.

Personal Information Scams Warning
There are many imposter sites that advertise free credit reports, but are actually a scam that either tries to steal information from you or charge you a fee for a service that’s free by law!

In order to protect yourself from these scams, avoid Goggling search terms like “free credit report” or similar. Instead, go directly to the Annual Credit Report Request Service web site at www.annualcreditreport.com

The Annual Credit Report Request Service will not call or send you an email asking for personal information. If you do receive such a request – DO NOT respond to it!

Also, avoid using any other website that advertize ““Free Credit Reports” or “Free Credit Scores“. Most are imposter sites that either try to steal information from you, or charge you a fee for a service that’s free by law!